While President Obama has reignited a national conversation over rising college costs with his new proposals , those suggestions are unlikely to dramatically lower costs soon . And the president has not given many specific suggestions how to cut these costs that have been rising dramatically faster than people 's income . Tuition fees are roughly double the share of income then they were in the 1960s .

Let me offer five suggestions on how to lower post-secondary educational costs . This list is not comprehensive , but full implementation of even some of them could reduce the burden that colleges impose on students , parents and taxpayers .

First , adopt the three-year bachelor 's degree as in Europe . Students at prestigious schools like Oxford and Cambridge receive their degrees in three years , and they still get first-class jobs . Diminishing returns sets into collegiate study like anything else , and much of the material in the last two years of college is of marginal importance , with the possible exception of some demanding majors such as engineering and architecture . The feds could simply say undergraduate student eligibility for financial assistance ends after 90 semester hours of study . This approach should reduce the cost of a B.A. degree by something on the order of 25 % .

A less cost-saving variant of the three-year plan would keep the degree at its traditional 120 semester hour length , but have students go to school year-round for three years . We really do n't need the summer off to plant crops as people did hundreds of years ago .

Facilities would get greater utilization , lowering capital costs . College graduates would gain an extra year working full-time . Faculty usually will teach additional courses for far less than the average pay per course taught regularly . Maintenance costs of facilities per student would also fall .

Second , make it possible for students to use MOOCs -LRB- massively open online courses -RRB- and other low-cost , online options , allowing for lower cost `` blended '' degrees combining perhaps two years of traditional classroom experience with an equal amount of online training . This would cut the cost of quality degrees perhaps 40 % . Without any governmental involvement , teachers and entrepreneurs have brought hundreds of high-quality but free or low-cost courses to the internet -- Udacity , Coursera , EdX , StraighterLine , Saylor Foundation , Khan Academy and Twenty Million Minds Foundation are examples of a few providers or facilitators of quality instruction . Yet students seldom get credit for these courses . The barriers are not technological , but legal or involve overcoming special interest obstruction .

Students need to be examined on the online material , with safeguards assuring the registered student is actually being tested . Obstacles to accrediting these innovative approaches need to be overcome . The federal government , which accredits the accreditation agencies , could tell these agencies they must allow accredited schools to accept as much as 60 % of coursework from MOOC or related providers . The federal government ca n't deliver the mail or run a national medical care system efficiently , so they should not be the prime mover here . Where is the Gates Foundation or Warren Buffet when we need them ?

Third , offer a traditional residential degree for 40 % less by dramatically reducing labor and capital costs . The typical university employs twice as many `` professional non-instructional personnel '' -LRB- administrators -RRB- per 100 students as it did 40 years ago . Why not create new universities with staffing near the 1970 norms -- a university without sustainability and diversity coordinators or an army of public relations specialists , where faculty teach extensively rather than do trivial research that no one reads , and where there are no expensive intercollegiate athletic programs for the amusement of non-students .

Specifically , ask the faculty to teach four classes per semester instead of two or three . Build few buildings but utilize them extensively , including on Fridays , weekends and summer months . Have a least two faculty members for each administrator -LRB- the ratio now is often one to one -RRB- . Prohibit faculty from teaching trivial courses in their specialty . Do we really need courses on `` Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame '' taught to students who are clueless about Beethoven , Shakespeare and van Gogh ? Limit the pay of all employees to no more than that of the president of the United States or less . Could existing universities do this ? They have n't , so state governments might have to create new institutions from the ground up .

Fourth , create a National College Equivalence Test similar to the high school GED . A good national test of basic reading , writing , mathematical and general knowledge about our institutions and society could be administered by , say , the Scholastic Testing Service , or ACT . High scores on the test would lead to a `` college equivalence certificate . '' Most students want a diploma as a ticket to a good job . Employers could use scores on the equivalency test as an alternative certification device , and individuals could take the test anytime -- even home schooled kids with little formal education .

Fifth , get the federal government out of the student financial aid business . There is good evidence the 11.7 % annual growth in federal student financial aid over the past decade -LRB- and similar growth earlier -RRB- has encouraged colleges to raise tuition fees and finance a costly academic arms race . Lower income Americans are a smaller proportion of recent college graduates than in 1970 , before Pell Grants began . If we implement the first four reforms , the need for student financial assistance will dramatically decline .

The current system breeds high dropout rates , rewards poor performance -LRB- students lingering in school get more aid than those graduating promptly -RRB- and encourages kids to enter college who would be better off entering trade schools or apprentice programs . Ending these inefficient federal programs would save tens of billions annually .

In short , there are lots of thing we can do to make colleges more affordable beyond the president 's idea of providing good consumer information by rating colleges .

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President Obama is proposing steps to reduce costs of college

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Richard Vedder says more useful steps would include shortening college to three years

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He says the number of administrators has grown too much , other costs could be cut

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Vedder : Year-round schooling and online teaching would do much to reduce tuition